You know, folks, I have been watching what's happening here in Scotland and the UK, and it breaks my heart. People are saying, "Oh, this is a Christian country," pointing back to history, the old churches, the way things used to be.
But let me tell you something straight from the Word: just because you've got the label doesn't mean you've got the life.
I preached on this a couple years back from John 1, "The Word" and it's still burning in my spirit. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14).
That's Jesus! Not some cultural tradition or a box you check on a census. Do people really know Him? The eternal God who became man, who died for sins, who rose again? In all honesty, most don't. They've got religion, but not regeneration. They've got form, but no power.
And look at the mess, the carnage, as some are calling it. Tensions are rising, violence flaring up, communities are strained from migration pressures, housing shortages hitting local families hard, crime waves that leave girls and women vulnerable, and governments that seem weak or too caught up in "woke" ideas to call things what they are.
Religious hate crimes are at record highs, hatreds at a boiling point, against Jews, against Christians, against whoever's different, and it grieves the Lord. He said love your neighbor (Mark 12:31), but sin unchecked breeds more division and destruction (Jeremiah 17:9).
When policies tiptoe around truth for fear of offending, or when integration fails and people feel pushed aside in their own land, resentment grows. It's not politics fixing this; it's hearts that need fixing by the Gospel.
The sad part is, while the world's falling apart, so much of what's called "Christian" in the UK is just nominal, fading fast.
Back in the 2021 census, Christians were already under half in England and Wales (46.2%), down big from previous decades, and "no religion" shot up, especially with the young folks.
People claim the name, but where's the new birth? Where's the hunger for God's Word? Where's the fruit of the Spirit? It's like the church in Laodicea, lukewarm, thinking they're rich but really wretched and poor (Revelation 3:17). Jesus is knocking, but too many aren't opening the door.
But praise God, there's light in the darkness! The Lord's doing something. That Bible Society report from 2025, the "Quiet Revival", shows church attendance climbing in England and Wales, from 8% to 12% monthly over recent years.
Gen Z, those 18- to 24-year-olds, their attendance quadrupled! Young men especially are showing up, up to 21% in some stats. Bible sales exploded, 87% jump from 2019 to 2024. with kids wanting real, physical copies like the Bible, not just apps (though those help too).
They're hungry for truth in a world full of confusion, mental struggles, and emptiness. You know what? That's revival stirring! Not the big flashy kind, maybe, but real honest hearts turning to Jesus, getting born again, finding freedom in Him instead of the heaviness of dead men's, man-made doctrinal systems that weigh folks down.
The answer isn't more laws or nostalgia for the past. It's getting back to the simple Gospel, Christ crucified, risen, coming again. Proclaim it boldly, teach the Word verse by verse as we do here, let the Spirit do the work.
Scotland's seen God move before; those awakenings in 1859-1861 weren't from man's programs, but from prayer and the power of the Word. The same God can do it again in these last days.
So, if you're claiming, "Christian country," let's prove it by knowing the Christ of John 1 personally.
Repent, believe, be born again. The fields are white, pray for labourers, for Scotland, for the UK.
May the Lord pour out His Spirit, heal the divisions, and bring many to genuine faith in Jesus. That's what it's all about.
Peter
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